Booming inn group defies economic uncertainty with third quarter growth

EATDRINKSLEEP, a group of inns with rooms around the country, has defied economic uncertainty and continued to perform strongly, posting impressive sales growth for Q3.

The group, which runs The Old Coastguard in Mousehole and The Gurnard’s Head near Zennor, as well as The Felin Fach Griffin, near Brecon, saw year-on-year turnover in the third quarter of the year increase by 6.6%, with room occupancy for July – September at 98.8%.

Turnover increases by site were 7.1% (Gurnard’s Head), 7.2% (Old Coastguard), 5.2% (Felin Fach Griffin), while room occupancy at the Cornish end of the business was 99.4%.

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Occupancy at The Felin Fach Griffin was 97.2%, a record for the inn in an area that benefits less from seasonality than Cornwall.

EATDRINKSLEEP has been owned by Charles and Edmund Inkin since The Felin Fach Griffin opened in 2000.

They are currently nominated as Hoteliers of the Year in the 2016 Independent Hotel Show awards. The Felin Fach Griffin is the 2017 Good Pub Guide’s Dining Pub of the Year for Wales as well as being the only establishment in Wales to hold a Bib Gourmand from the Michelin Guide.

Edmund Inkin commented: “Our teams have delivered some properly impressive numbers across the board this summer. We think the immediate impact of Brexit (one way or the other) on the hospitality economy might well have been overplayed. We give more importance to the general tendency for people to holiday at home (some call it staycation) as the quality of the product goes ever upwards. We’ve also noticed an increase in overseas visitors, particularly in Cornwall and increasingly from Asia and the new economies.”